


Trust

by DargonWolfeh



Series: An Apex Story [9]
Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: I AM ANGRY, Kinda Cryptson?, Not anymore ;_;, SO THIS IS MY WAY OF DEALING WITH IT, They're not exactly a thing here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:54:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26000734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DargonWolfeh/pseuds/DargonWolfeh
Summary: Ever since Caustic framed him, Crypto has been having a hard time dealing with everything- especially his harsh breakup with Wattson.AKA: SEASON 6 INTERACTIONS GOT ME FUCKED UP SO HERE"S WHAT I SAY IN RESPONSE TO THEM
Series: An Apex Story [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1528175
Kudos: 18





	Trust

**Author's Note:**

> I genuinely hate Caustic right now, so this is my way of venting and sorting through my violent thoughts toward him.

Their breakup affected Crypto more than he was willing to admit.

Well, they never... officially broke up, per say. Ever since Caustic ( _Doctor _Caustic his ass) had gotten involved with Revenant, he'd made his life a living hell.

The tension was immediate whenever he walked into rooms. Nobody trusted him. Actually, nobody trusted him to begin with, but now it was _obvious _they didn't trust him. Bangalore would always shoot him dirty looks and say something whenever he was in earshot, Witt seemed a little more distant outside of the ring, and even Wraith seemed more interested in making sure Natalie was okay than talking to him.

Natalie.

Damn it, she wouldn't believe anything he said. She wouldn't even listen. Whenever he walked in the room, she would leave, and if she couldn't leave, she'd make an effort to stay as far away from him as possible. Whenever their eyes met, he could always see that same look. It wasn't fear, not anymore at least, and it wasn't anger, or pity, or any way he would have preferred her to look at him.

It was distrust.

And he hated it.

It was like when he first joined the games, but worse. At least then, they just thought he was paranoid, like he was running away from something (which, of course, was true). Now, he couldn't go anywhere without getting funny looks. He couldn't stand in vicinity of someone without hearing them mutter something under their breath, probably hoping that he'd hear. One time, he even caught Ajay hurriedly shush Octane when he'd walked by, and he saw the guilt on her face before he walked off.

He didn't like this. He didn't like it at all. And he had no idea what to do to fix it.

"You alright brah?" A heavy hand slapped him hard on the back, instantly bringing him back to reality as his face nearly collided with the table from the force. He almost let his fist collide with his attacker, until he saw him plop down on the opposite side of the table.

"I'm fine." Gibraltar let out a hefty laugh at his obvious lie.

"Been starin at that drone for a while now. Doesn't even look like you're workin on it."

Crypto chose not to respond, instead going to _actually _fiddle with Hack and try to get his mind off his thoughts, like he was originally supposed to be doing.

"Its been rough since Caustic framed you, huh?"

"Yeah..." Crypto opened one of Hack's compartments to look at the wiring inside.

Wait.

He looked up, and the big smile that was on his face had turned to one much smaller, less cheery, less teeth- or no teeth, rather. He looked... concerned.

"You know it wasn't me-"

"He told me, right when he left the room," Gibraltar waved down one of the MRVNs that were programmed to bring food to anyone in the mess hall, "I followed him out, talked his ear off til he told me everything."

" _Bileo meogeul nom,_ *" He knew that sociopath had framed him, had been the mole. He set him up from the start, hoping to get him away from Natalie, hoping to tarnish their relationship.

All because he was threatened- no, _jealous,_ at the thought of being replaced as her number one. As her favorite person.

"I'm going to kill him."

"No you're not," The MRVN came by, and he asked for a couple of beers before he leaned forward one of his arms, as close to Crypto as the table allowed, and while his smile didn't grow as wide, it seemed to get more... genuine. For some reason, Crypto found that frustrating.

"Wanna know why?"

"Not really-"

"Because you know she still cares about 'im, and you love her too much to do anything about it."

Crypto didn't mean to react to that. He didn't mean to glare, or flinch, or tense up, and he definitely didn't mean to say anything, but he was caught so off guard he couldn't stop the quiet, strained, "How did you know that?" Slip out quietly.

Natalie has his emotions too worked up lately.

The thought of her put a strange pain in his chest.

"Trust me, I know young love when I see it," Gibraltar leaned back, looking pompous and full of himself because he knows he's right, but at the same time Crypto didn't get the feeling he was trying to get on his bad side, or even under his skin. He still did anyway.

"I'm older than you."

"And I'm older than Nat. You may think you're slick, mista hackaman, but she doesn't hide her feelings as well as you," The MRVN was back with a couple of deep brown bottles with some label Crypto didn't bother to read, on a platter far too ornate for serving something as plain as beer. He took one of them without batting an eye, and took the first swig upon noticing the cap was already removed.

Gibraltar took the other bottle, and he took an even _bigger _swig, a couple actually, before dropping his hand back to the table and looking Crypto in the eye.

"She's got you soft too."

Crypto took another, much smaller sip.

"What makes you say that?"

"You didn' even look twice at your drink. I coulda put somethin in it."

"You're not the type."

That made him smile again.

" _Meomchwo._ ** You're looking at me like you know my life story."

"You know," Gibraltar took another hefty swig, and by the time it was done he already had a 1/4 of the bottle left. He pretended to act more interested in reading the label, but his eyebrows were raised in mock interest. His eyes didn't even move.

"She still talks about you."

Crypto felt something burst in his chest upon hearing that. It felt like something too hot, but too cold at the same time, and the conflicting shift between the extremes almost made him nauseous, but not in the vomit way, if that made sense. It was more like a strange, obscene and unrealistic feeling of hope, and excitement, and he knew it showed in his face, because Gibraltar's eyes shifted up to look at him expectantly.

"What does..." Suddenly, his throat felt dry, and he needed to swallow before he leaned in close, lowering his voice as a couple other legends walked by. "What does she say?"

Gibraltar shrugged.

"Mostly about how hurt she is. Betrayal's somethin she ain't used to." Crypto fell back in his seat, bringing a hand up to tiredly comb through his hair before letting it drop by his beer. Of course, he should've known. She was too mad at him for it to be anything else.

"I understand. Thank you for the drink, but I have a game to get to soon-" He had already closed up Hack and put him back in his holster by the time he pushed himself to his feet, mentally preparing for whatever today's game had in store for him, but Gibraltar didn't move a muscle.

"But I can tell she's not ready to give up on you."

Crypto's back was toward him, so he had no idea what sort of look he had on his face, but just by the sound of his voice, he could tell the smile was gone.

"How do you know?" The trepidation in his voice was clear, but he at least managed to keep his it even, at least, for the most part.

"Not my place to say," Crypto heard him take the last few sips (or in his case, one sip) of his beer before placing it back on the table, letting out a long, and rather loud, exhalation, like it was refreshing to drink, "But I just couldn't letcha go without you knowin you can still fix tings with her. Well, not like you broke it in the first place. I'm sure she'll come around."

Crypto still didn't turn around, instead opting to take hold of his beer and continue his walk off. He lifted it up in acknowledgment, before taking another sip as he made his way to the docking area of the dropship.

Drinking was against the rules before a game, but plenty of legends broke plenty of rules _frequently._ He was sure they wouldn't mind.

He just prayed he wouldn't have to put up with a shitty team for the next few days.

**Author's Note:**

> *bil-eo meog-eul nom: Fucking bastard  
> **Meomchwo: Stop it


End file.
